Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization presented before the Conference of Bioethics of UNESCO this week in Cyprus on the impact of religious and cultural minorities in setting ethical rules of the state.
Widely regarded as one of Israel’s leading ethical thinkers, Cherlow used his presentation to enlighten the audience about the specific challenges facing Israel in this regard.
One particular example presented in the lecture addressed the challenge presented by some Torah legal adjudicators in the Orthodox Jewish community who choose not to recognize brain death as “halachic death”, (within Jewish/Torah law), a decision which can preclude the patient’s ability to embrace organ donation.
Cherlow presented the enormous ethical and practical implications which those types of decisions impose on a modern society.
“I deeply respect and admire halachic decisions that are different from my own, and I believe it is incumbent upon our national governments to similarly respect diverse positions, Rabbi Cherlow said.
The three-day conference is being held in Limassol, Cyprus and organized by the Chair in Bioethics of the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The conference is being attended by hundreds of religious, ethical and medical scholars from Israel and around the world.